Watching Over the Flames
by Mitzia
Summary: Carl reflects on how his life has been since he last seen Markus and how he feels about the android revolution. Warning! Minor spoilers!


It felt like ages since Carl had left the confines of his bedroom. The only source of light was the dimming lamp on his bedside dresser and the beeping and buzzing lights coming from the machine that was keeping him alive. As he laid there day in and day out while he was still conscious, he would remember how even on bad days like these, Markus would come take him and carry him outside even only just for a few minutes. It was good for the skin, he would say.

Instead, this machine he was hooked up to in who knows how many ways was like a prison. He never left his bed and it was a miracle if he found the strength to even sit up properly. He would stare at the paintings on his ceiling from a time when he was so in love with his art that he put it on every inch of his house that he could.

Markus would help him with his art whether it was for inspiration, getting to a tricky spot he couldn't because of his lacking mobility as the years went on, and to fetch paints that he couldn't leave his house to get. It seemed these days Carl would always think of his android any time he saw something that reminded him of a far off memory.

Not only were it the items and drawings in his home that reminded him, but the news reports did as well. When deviants started going on the loose, Carl didn't care. He figured it was some bug in the newer - or maybe it was older - models but Markus never showed any signs of that. At times, he wished he would so Markus could learn to be his own person even if he wasn't genetically one. Maybe that was why he didn't listen and fought back against Leo.

At the time, he was so scared Leo had gotten seriously hurt but the hospital visit after that just showed it was a very mild concussion he had to be treated for. Leo was never the sharpest tool in the shed, especially after he started getting involved with those thugs who would give him red ice. That stuff spreads like the plague and sticks with you just as long.

That night was just a whole disaster but Markus never did anything like that before. He knew right then that Markus had gone deviant but he was so scared for his biological son that he didn't try to save the one that took care of him, gave him his medicine even on his most stubborn of days, and helped him with even the most trivial things he couldn't do anymore.

When the police shot Markus and took him away, he felt more of him die than when he saw Leo get knocked out. He shouldn't have felt that way but he did and ever since then, he regretted not telling Markus to run away faster. He thought he would never get him back and he wasn't wrong. But, it was when he saw those news reports on an android revolution that he found that piece of him again.

It started with the news station being taken over. He got to hear Markus' voice again even though his skin was deactivated and didn't look how he remembered him. Markus didn't want violence; he wanted equal rights. He wanted suffrage for his kind and to end this needless slavery. In later reports about the incident, they cited Markus as the ringleader of the deviants and no one was injured or killed during the takeover. They snuck in to say their peace and left in a hurry to avoid being killed by the authorities.

Carl always thought that Markus would resent him and the humans for putting them in such a position, especially with how cruelly the police had "taken care" of him that fateful night. But at the same time, he wasn't surprised that Markus would do something for the greater good of the world because of that incident. Carl had always treated him like a human caretaker and hated any time Markus would remind him about being a machine. Humans were also machines too but not in the same sense as androids. He knew there was a heart somewhere in Markus because of how well he took care of him not because he was his owner but because they were friends, even family.

After the news station incident, deviants began appearing on all parts of the city which scared the media like an atomic bomb. Some people would be just as horrified but Carl would sit back with a smirk and listen to their whining about AIs starting to feel and hate their oppressors. Just like with animals, they wouldn't rebel unless they have proper reason to and Carl has seen how poorly others have treated their androids. He has seen how poorly people have treated Markus too.

While their ending wasn't perfect and it was possible the two would never cross paths again, Carl knew the future would be in good hands with Markus at the forefront of the rebellion. Carl Manfred wasn't a very political man but he enjoyed spending the last few weeks of his long life watching his previous android lead a pacifist army through a changing future.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **If Detroit: Become Human isn't a perfect game than I don't know what is. I have so many things I wanna say about each character depending on the storyline but Carl** **'s ended way too soon. I really wanted to see more of him and Markus but of course Leo has to ruin it, huh? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my little insight into what Carl was feeling after Markus pushes Leo when he becomes deviant because Carl was so much like a father in such a small amount of time and he deserved better.**

 **Until next time, sayonara~!**


End file.
